Page 32 of Bossy Bride: Emma and Jesse

Jesse lets go of me and sprints off.

“Stop!” Karen is calling.

I look over my shoulder to find her running after me. I double down and pump my arms, booking it harder to catch up with Jesse.

He’s reached the car and is banging on the hood. “We’re here!” he’s yelling. “It’s us.”

The Uber car stops in the middle of turning left and Jesse yanks the door open just as I reach him. I slide in, Jesse slides in, and we both say, “Go, go, go!”

The car takes off and I turn to look behind me. Karen is standing in the middle of the road with her phone in her hand. “Oh, my God. I think she’s calling my mother!”

“Please!” the driver says. “I don’t have any money!”

“What?” Jesse says.

“I don’t have any money! Please don’t steal my car! I need it for my job!”

Jesse and I both look at each other.

“Oh, shit,” I say. Just as the smell of Italian food wafts up to my nose.

“You’re not an Uber driver, are you?” Jesse asks.

“Door Dash!” the frightened woman says. “I was making a delivery. I think it was for that lady back there. I was just gonna turn around and—”

“We’re just going to the airport,” Jesse says. “We’ll pay you double to take us there. Hell, we’ll pay you two hundred dollars to take us there and pretend this never happened!”

“Do we even have two hundred dollars?” I ask. Because I don’t normally carry cash.

The driver pulls over, like she’s gonna make us get out, or get out herself, and then we really will have to steal her car, because when I look out the back window, fucking Krakken is running down the street after us, yelling, “They just stole my dinner! They just stole my dinner!”

Well, I can’t really hear her say that. But I’m pretty sure that’s what the Kraken is yelling.

“No, no!” Jesse says. “Please! Don’t pull over. This is just a weird misunderstanding. And I do have cash. I promise.” He pauses to look at me. “I do. Only three hundred, but it’s fine. We can hit up an ATM in Vegas when we arrive and get more. Just keep going,” he tells the driver. “Please. Or crazy Kraken Karen will catch us!”

And maybe it’s the word ‘kraken’ that changes the poor woman’s mind, or maybe it’s the promise of two hundred dollars. Could go either way. But she gets back on the road and accelerates just as Karen starts pounding on the passenger window.

Jesse and I laugh as we leave the Kraken in the dust. Then we settle back into the seats and breathe a sigh of relief.

“Well,” the driver says. I glance up at the rearview to meet her gaze. “I’m gonna need all three hundred of those dollars now. Because I’m pretty sure Karen is already asking to speak to my manager and I’ll have an outrageous one-star review before this night is over.”

Jesse and I both say, “Done.”

At the airport, Jesse gives her all his cash, we thank her and apologize to her simultaneously and profusely, and then we realize he left the wheelie carry-on in Karen’s backyard.

“It’s fine.” Jesse laughs, taking my hand as we make our way through the check-in for the private jets. “We’re only going to be in Vegas like six hours. We don’t even need toothbrushes.”

And pretty soon we’re climbing the airstairs to the jet and Miles is making everything better. He even changed back into his butler outfit.

“Miles,” I say, tsking my tongue. “You didn’t have to change.”

“Ma’am, I take my job very seriously. Looking the part makes me a better butler. Mr. Boston, will you require some Barbie and Ken mini rolls during our trip?”

“Nah, I’m good, Miles. Take the night off. In fact, you can have the bedroom if you want. We’ll just sleep in our seats.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Miles snaps back. “And I already have your sleeping clothes laid out for you.”

“We have sleeping clothes?” Jesse asks.